NOTE: This alert originally went out from Liberty Ark, but had a mistake in the contact information for Representative Mayes (my fault).  Please note the corrected information: Facsimile (517) 373-8881, Phone (517) 517-373-0158 or 866-REP-0096,
 
The RFID program for cattle went into full effect this week.  But if we work together, we can still make a difference.
 
We are waiting for the legislation in the house to receive a bill number and find out when it will be formally introduced.
 

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP NOW:

 
· Contact State Representative Jeff Mayes.  He is the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.  Ask him and the committee to support legislation to stop mandatory electronic animal identification programs in the State of Michigan.  See attached sample letter.  You can fax, mail, email or call his office to get your message heard.  Representative Jeff Mayes, S1285 House Office Building, P.O. Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909-7514, Facsimile (517) 373-8881, Phone (517) 517-373-0158 or 866-REP-0096, email: jeffmayes@house.mi.gov

· Contact your State Representative and State Senator and educate them on the issues and urge them to support legislation to stop mandatory animal identification programs in Michigan.  You can use the attached sample letter to Jeff Mayes as a guide to send to other legislators.  You can find your State Senator at http://www.senate.michigan.gov/SenatorInfo/find-your-senator.htm You can find your State Representative at  http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp

· Contact all members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.   The members of the House Agriculture Committee can be found here  http://house.michigan.gov/committeeinfo.asp?lstcommittees=agriculture  The members of the Senate Agriculture Committee can be found here http://www.ciclt.net/wmu/main.asp?O_ID=misagr&PT=poc_detail&Client=wmu  Ask the committee members to support legislation to bar mandatory electronic animal identification in Michigan.  You can use the attached sample letter with minor changes to contact these legislators.

· Continue to contact the Governor and let her know that you oppose the Mandatory RFID Animal Tagging program.  You can find contact information for Governor Granholm at http://michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995---,00.html
 
· FARM BUREAU ISSUES- The National Farm Bureau has been integral in the building of a NAIS.  The Michigan Farm Bureau has supported the Mandatory Electronic Animal Identification system in Michigan.  They are lobbying hard to keep this program going.  If you are a farmer who is a member of Farm Bureau, you can try to push for change from within.  Or simply cancel your membership and tell them why you are doing so.  There are plenty of other insurance companies that can give you a competitive rate for all farm and personal insurance needs.  See this article for more information http://ruralheritage.com/stop_nais/farmbureau01.htm  (be sure to click through all the pages via the links at the bottom to read the entire 9 sections of the article).
 
· Keep educating everyone you know.  This is to some degree a numbers game, the more we get people involved the better chance we have to stop the program.
 
· Support groups who are working to stop mandatory electronic animal ID and other important agriculture issues.  Some of these groups are: Healthy Traditions Network (www.htnetwork.org); Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org); Liberty Ark Coalition (www.libertyark.net);  Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (www.farmandranchfreedom.org).  You can support them by joining, volunteering, signing up for action alerts on their websites and spreading the word of their missions.

For more information contact Lisa Imerman at Lrimerman@comcast.net or go to www.libertyark.net

Sample letter and talking points

Be sure to personalize the letter for the greatest effect!  Talking points for phone calls are after the letter

Representative Jeff Mayes
S1285 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514
Via Facsimile (517) 373-0158

Re: Michigan Mandatory Cattle RFID Tagging

Dear Mr. Mayes:

I am a concerned citizen of Michigan who opposes the Mandatory Cattle RFID Tagging Program that is being implemented by the Michigan Department of Agriculture under the guise of the Bovine TB Eradication Program.  This mandatory tagging is part of the effort to introduce the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) into Michigan.  The United States Department of Agriculture has publicly stated that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, yet the Michigan Department of Agriculture has continued to push it on the people o f this State.

I am opposed to both the Michigan Program and the NAIS for many reasons.  I agree that the Michigan Department of Agriculture needs to address Bovine TB in Michigan and protect our food supply.  Despite their statements to the contrary, however, this program will not achieve those goals and will hurt the State of Michigan.  This program does not address the cause, treatment or transmission of animal diseases. The current problem with Bovine TB in Michigan can be directly traced to the wild deer population.  There is no provision in this program or in the rest of the Bovine TB eradication program for dealing with the wildlife population and the reason why we still have Bovine TB in Michigan.  The current cattle tagging program is effective in allowing the MDA to trace disease outbreaks and to control herd information.   Disease control protocols that work are already in place.  The RFID tagging program has not been properly planned or tested, and is overly burdensome to the farmers and the Michigan economy.  

The Michigan RFID tagging program will not help increase food safety.  The tags are removed after an initial inspection is done at the slaughterhouse.  With or without an RFID tag, once the animal becomes food it is impossible to trace any type of contaminated food product back to the farm.  Moreover, most food safety problems, such as e.coli and salmonella, are due to problems in food processing and handling.  Increased inspections, better slaughterhouse conditions and moving away from the confinement operation model of farming will increase food safety.

The Governor's Michigan Food Policy Council has been working hard to increase the economic standing of the agriculture sector in Michigan.  The council has recommended that programs be developed to help small farmers stay in business.  The council wants Michigan Government to support and help grow the organic farming sector and take advantage of that rapidly growing market share.  The goal is to increase consumer spending of food dollars on locally grown agriculture and food products.  This RFID tagging program will do the exact opposite; it will force small, local farmers out of business and make them economically unable to compete for those local food dollars.  Agriculture is the second largest sector of the Michigan economy and this program will cut off an important portion of that sector.  Our state cannot afford to bankroll an expensive program that will cut off an important economic growth avenue and will not be able to achieve its stated goals.

There has been mention of an increased ability to export our cattle with an electronic identification system.  However, the market can implement a system that will benefit those farmers who wish to export.  There is no need for the government to be involved in such a market-driven system.  The government should not force the small farmers who have no interest in being a part of the export market to submit to such a burdensome program.

I urge you to listen to the citizens of the State of Michigan and this nation who are in ever increasing numbers expressing their objection to a mandatory electronic animal identification system.  I ask you and the House Agriculture Committee to support legislation that will protect the farmers and consumers from this state-mandated program.

Sincerely,
Name
Address
Email, if you have it

Talking points for calls

Economic Damage:  NAIS and the Michigan's Mandatory RFID Cattle tagging program will drive farmers and ranchers out of business and hurt Michigan's economy
o There has been no analysis at federal or state level that establishes the costs or benefits of NAIS.
o Costs of the program = the cost of the tags, hardware, software, and labor
o Small farmer and ranchers will pay these costs, and many cannot afford it.
o Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business.
o Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, lowering demand for local foods.
o The Governor's Michigan Food Policy Council recommended increasing the purchasing of Michigan-grown food products, supporting local farmers, to stimulate Michigan's economy.  MDA's program undermines these goals.
o Export isn't the answer for Michigan's local farmers.

No Scientific Basis:  Neither the USDA nor the MDA has scientific proof that NAIS will improve disease control
o It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
o It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.  Even with the RFID program in place, MDA recommends farmers still keep written field records.  So, farmers must now use two systems.

Not for Food Safety:  The program will not improve food safety
o USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program
o Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards.

Not About Terrorism:  The program will not protect against terrorism.
· The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.
· The database of information will be created by Michigan but available to USDA.  Government databases can be hacked into.

Unconstitutional: The NAIS and Michigan's mandatory Cattle RFID tagging program infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.  MDA's proposal to address religious concerns isn't fully defined.
Voluntary Federal NAIS: USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring MDA to move forward with this program.
o The MDA has signed a Cooperative Agreement with USDA, however, and is also getting federal funds for implementing the cattle tagging program.  MDA is following funding, not the will of the citizens of the state.
o MDA also has a conflict of interest because one of the main officials implementing this program, Kevin Kirk, is the Treasurer for an industry organization (NIAA) that is advocating for NAIS.

No Legal Basis:  MDA is implementing this new program via policy change, with no new legislation or the normal regulatory process.
o Without any pre-notification, the MDA simply assigned a USDA premises number to all people who had herds tested in the TB Eradication program, which may lead to expensive litigation over misuse of people's information

Don't give up!  This will be a long, hard fight, but we CAN win!